November 05, 2004

• whoa...dude. i'm not easily so freaked out by things, but i almost feel like i should be afraid of the secret service knocking on my door just for reading that. there are many...i mean many things that i do not approve of when it comes to bush...but really, fantasy fiction about asassination? even in the name of humor, it doesn't seem right. i'm sad too, man. really. i wish kerry would have won. i only hope that the right wing sites don't run with a funny edward's wife has breast cancer story. maybe they could call the cancer a "weapon of mass destruction"...get it? wouldn't that be funny! that will show us! i think we're all a little above all this, don't you? really.
• That picture is way over the line, or mine anyway.
• I can't stand George Bush, his fascist neo-con cronies, and their plans for the planet. But that "story" is just tasteless.
• After reading it all: Ick.
• Interesting that it's ".ru" if you think the prospect of an FBI visit is scary, how about W sicking his buddy Vladamir's rejuvenated KGB on you?
• the eXile posted this stuff on Oct. 29th, before the big E according to the publication date on the site. But yeah, I was hesitant about posting this, but I think it well reflects the less reverent attitude people outside the US borders show towards politicians. (Although some of the site is written in the US, I gather.) The US tendency to deify its pols has led to, well, pols as deities.
• Meanwhile, in the real free world, where we fear no visits from men in cheap suits, we're shaking our heads and murmuring, "if only".
• I thought it was pretty funny. Difference is, John Edwards' wife does have breast cancer, a serious condition which doesn't involve a fall from grace and therefore doesn't have much comic potential, whereas Bush hasn't actually been assassinated, and (hopefully) won't. I say play on.
• The National Guard was called up in twenty-nine states in order to maintain order. Due to the Iraq war, the severely-depleted Guard was forced to supplement its numbers with private militias and paintball teams. Unconfirmed reports say that Canadian Mounties are massing at the U.S. border and are prepared to intervene "if asked." Intervene? Invade, baby! It's 1812 all over again! To the whitehouse! Seriously, though, that story was a bit much.
• I was just having a discussion last evening about how common it is to burn an effigy of a political figure in other countries, but how unacceptable that would be to do it here. In other countries, it is a very strong form of political expression. If I were to burn an effigy of Bush here today, I would imagine that I would be arrested by local authorities and investigated by national authorities. And I agree with orococo, who seems to feel that we deify our political figures in the US too much. The piece itself was not particularly funny to me, but I am notoriously hard on satirical pieces. However, I do not feel that the piece was unacceptably immoral or anything. I think that it just went beyond what this country is used to seeing.
• You have to realize what kind of publication Exile is--check out some of their back issues. These are the (American expat)folks who used to have a weekly column rating local (Russian) prostitutes, and whose staff threw a "cream" pie made out of horse sperm (I kid you not) at a New York Times journalist stationed there that they didn't like (you can probably read about that in the archives too). But yes, not funny even for a Bush hater like myself (I repect the office if not the current occupant), plus it misses the point that George Bush is just the front--his policies are generated by the men (and woman) behind the curtain like Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft et al.
• Perhaps I'm being insensitive, but considering the carnage this guy has caused, I think he can take it. I found it to be mildly amusing. But the "paintball teams" line cracked me up.
• Oh, please. Don't be such pussies. It's just words on screen. Afraid of the secret service just for reading this? Christ, you're already beaten down. The guy is a war criminal. Talking about shooting him is in no way bad taste. No where near as bad taste as voting for him.
• George Bush is just the front--his policies are generated by the men (and woman) behind the curtain like Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft et al. Kill 'em all!
• If someone in the USA was to publish that, they would be sent to an undocumented Guantamano cell faster than you could say "Love it or Leave it or disappear."
• "He fought real hard, like a true hero," agreed Lance Tiggs, a 32-year-old Army mechanic who lost both of his legs in Iraq and has since stumped for Bush. Ouch. Clever in a brutal kinda way. I do enjoy reading the Exile's War Nerd, who will no doubt soon be writing Fallujah, Part III.
• Nostrildamus said just about what I would have. Assassination is part of our world. If it weren't, no elected official or supposedly important person would have bodyguards. The joke's a bit lame, but it certainly doesn't depict anything that hasn't crossed the minds of millions of people.
• Tasteless, but with a few chuckle-inducing lines towards the end was my first thought. Then my stomach clenched when I realized what the implications would be: Cheney as president. Yikes!